A Mac attack: new Pinots & Ginger Rizz from Mac Forbes

I touch down in Australia two weeks tomorrow to lead an Arblaster & Clarke tour to South Australia and Victoria. We finish up in the Yarra Valley where we’ll be visiting Mac Forbes (pictured in full flow during my last visit in 2012). I caught up with his latest UK releases at the Australia Day Tasting in London.  Here are my picks of a very interesting bunch.  Suffice to say, I’m looking forward to our visit!

Mac Forbes RS10 Dry Riesling (Strathbogie Ranges, Victoria)

Herbal/mineral notes to the nose follow through in the mouth.  A combination of skin contact, cask, lees-aging and those 10 grams of residual sugar make for textural palate – rounder than your classic bone dry style of Australian Riesling. Still, there’s no hiding this wine’s cool climate credentials – the vineyard is at 600m on granite.  A tight core of apple sorbet fruit creates line, length and focus.  11%

Mac Forbes EB10 Ginger Rizz Riesling 2014 (Strathbogie Ranges, Victoria)

From the same vineyard but “EB” denotes experimental batch and this wine is about as far from classic Aussie Riesling as it gets.  It was whole bunch (wild) fermented on skins and matured in barrel. As Enid Blyton might say, lashings of ginger beer, with a really good kick of spicy, root ginger for lift.  It has nice breadth and depth to its savoury, yeasty dry palate.  Though the ginger brings spicy warmth, the finish is fresh and persistent. Eccentric but fun. 13%

Mac Forbes Chardonnay 2014 (Yarra Valley)

A very racy, persistent Chardonnay with a firm backbone of steely grapefruit and flinty minerality.  Finishes long, mineral and very energetic.  12.5%

Mac Forbes Pinot Noir 2014 (Yarra Valley)

A very pure, delicate expression of Pinot Noir with a fine lacy acid and tannin structure, sweet strawberry, raspberry and a subtly tarter touch of cranberry.  Good result in a warm but stormy year.  12%

Mac Forbes Coldstream Pinot Noir 2013 (Yarra Valley)

Don’t be fooled by the name.  Coldstream is the warmest, earliest picked vineyard with which Forbes works.  It was planted in 1997 at 110m.  Pale ruby, with great translucency and gorgeous aromatics.  Lingering violets with a nice intensity of juicy, persistent plum and a ruffle of tannin.  The 2014 is quite savoury in comparison, with earthy mushroom notes.  It was 100% de-stemmed and aged for 11 months in new and old oak. 13.5%

Mac Forbes Yarra Junction Pinot Noir 2014 (Yarra Valley)

The polar opposite of Coldstream, Yarra Junction is Forbe’s coolest, latest picked site.  It is located in the far eastern Yarra Valley in a shallow valley with a north easterly aspect, which protects it from the afternoon sun. The vineyard was planted in 1995 on grey loamy clay over siltstone.   This is a firm, lean even, very savoury, spicy Pinot with old vine sinewy tannins, even though the vines were just 19 years old.   A sense of struggle and tension.  I liked it.  Interesting to see how this develops.  It was fermented with 10% whole bunch, and aged for 10 months in new and old oak. 12%

Mac Forbes Woori Yallock Pinot Noir 2012 (Yarra Valley)

Also planted in 1995 (MV6 clone) and on grey loamy clay over siltstone, though it faces south west, which protects it from hot northerly winds.  The vineyard is located in the cooler Upper Yarra Valley at 100-145m.  Silky but fresh, very fluid redcurrant and cranberry fruit with subtle five spice notes and a ruffle of tannin.  Nice depth and flow; very fine.   It was fermented with 10% whole bunch, and aged for 11 months in new and old oak. 12.5%

Mac Forbes Woori Yallock Pinot Noir 2013 (Yarra Valley)

A deeper, richer nose with chocolate cherry truffle, well supported by taffeta tannins and persistent acidity, which tease out at long finish.  It was fermented with 10% whole bunch, and aged for 11 months in new and old oak. 13%

Mac Forbes Woori Yallock Pinot Noir 2014 (Yarra Valley)

Violets parry with mushroom on the nose, forecasting the tension to come on the palate – taut red fruits and a pithier acid and tannin structure.  The finish picks up where the nose left off, with savoury mushroom and fresh dug earth. It was fermented with 10% whole bunch, and aged for 11 months in new and old oak.  13%

Mac Forbes Woori Yallock One Tonne Pinot Noir 2013 (Yarra Valley)

A more emphatic palate still than the 2013 “standard cuvee,” – rich and intense with the structure to match, its fleshy plum underpinned by textured tannins and balanced acidity.  Pronounced violets bring lift and light to nose and palate.  Long, with lots more to show and tell.  As I understand it this comes from a small parcel of the Woori Yallock vineyard and is called One Tonne because the vines are cropped at 50%, which is one tonne less than usual.